WATCH: NYC Voters Frustrated by Broken Machines, Long Lines

The lines to vote this Election Day have been the longest in recent memory, according to so many voters waiting in the lines across New York City. The wait's been compounded by machine problems and the weather. Ida Siegal reports from Manhattan and John Chandler reports from Brooklyn.

(Published Tuesday, Nov. 6, 2018)

What to Know

Complaints about problems at the polls are coming in across the tri-state area; we're tracking them in the interactive map above

Are you having problems at the polls? We want to know about them. Email tips@nbcnewyork.com

Election Day got off to a rocky start for some across the tri-state area, with a number of voters reporting widespread issues at the polls — from broken scanners and missing names to huge lines and mass confusion.

The widespread problems in New York City prompted City Council Speaker Corey Johnson to call for Board of Elections Executive Director Michael Ryan's resignation.

"Bad weather and high turnout are no excuse when we have forecasts for both," Johnson wrote in a tweet. "Michael Ryan needs to resign and we need a full top to bottom review of what went wrong today."

"ALL SCANNERS ARE BROKEN AT PS 22. They just announced that they will be collecting ballots in an emergency collection box to scan later," voter Barry Hott tweeted. "People are very skeptical. Totally unacceptable."

At I.S. 746, one News 4 viewer said only one of 12 scanners was working as of 7:30 a.m. Lines were out the door at P.S. 29, where only three of five scanners were working, another voter said. More broken scanners plagued the Fort Hamilton Senior Center in Bay Ridge, where voters described huge lines and mass frustration. One voter in Sunset Park had to try three times to get a ballot counted; again, that voter said broken scanners were to blame.

ALL SCANNERS OUT. Poll workers trying to thin out lines by collecting ballots by hand to scan later. Some Voters are leaving ballots on the floor or walking out with ballot in hand, at Ingersoll Community Center Fort Greene BK. #Election2018@TheDemocrats@CNN@nytimes

Mayor de Blasio tweeted a strong message to frustrated voters early in the afternoon, saying, "Your voice matters."

"Please stay in line," the tweet continued. "And let's once and for all get true Board of Elections reforms like early voting so this never happens again. NYC deserves so much better."

Hey @BOENYC — absolute chaos, no working scanners at polling place located at 386 Marlborough Rd in Brooklyn. Coordinator can’t get ahold of the board to fix the issue. I’ve witnessed groups of people leaving the line with their ballot and not voting. You need to do something.

Federal and state officials have been working for nearly two years to shore up the nation's election infrastructure from cyberattacks by Russians or others seeking to disrupt the voting process. But many problems are closer to home.

In Harlem, one voter said the Wadleigh School location at West 114th Street was "completely disorganized" and had lines out the door. "People are upset!" that voter tweeted.

On the Upper West Side, at Manhattan School for Children on West 93rd Street, one voter said volunteers announced that two scanners were down around 8:15 a.m. As of around 9:30 a.m., five scanners were down, according to another voter.

At Frank McCourt High School on West 84th Street, poll workers were telling voters to "come back later," as scanners were broken and lines were several hours long, voter Chris Vitale told News 4. Vitale said she planned to return to the site to vote Tuesday evening.

In the Bronx, meanwhile, the lock on the door at the Marble Hill Senior Citizens Center polling site had to be broken around 6 a.m. because no one had the keys for the site, according to Rochelle Roman-Mack, whose husband went there to vote.

Roman-Mack's husband was eventually able to cast his vote, but it took around an hour, she told NBC 4 New York.

At P.S. 22 in Brooklyn, where voting problems were particularly acute Tuesday morning, the BOE's Ryan told reporters the rate of ballots getting jammed — leading to scanner issues — seemed to be higher this year than in past years.

Ryan attributed the jams to high turnout, as well as a two-page ballot being used in every borough except Staten Island.

A spokeswoman for the BOE didn't immediately respond to request for comment.

In New Jersey, at least one voter shouted out Gov. Murphy on Twitter, wondering why a polling location had its doors locked when it should have been open. Still other voters described errant addresses — and missing keys.

On Long Island, the Nassau County Board of Elections told one voter, whose name was missing from the registry, that the voter had moved out of the country. Not true, said the voter.

And it's not just the tri-state area. Early voting leading up to Tuesday's midterm election revealed a wide variety of concerns with voting and registration systems around the country — from machines that changed voter selections to registration forms tossed out because of clerical errors.

Election officials and voting rights groups fear that voter confidence in the results could be undermined if such problems become even more widespread on Election Day, as millions of Americans head to the polls to decide pivotal races for Congress and governor.

Already there is concern that last-minute court rulings on voter ID requirements, the handling of absentee ballots and other issues in a handful of states will sow confusion among voters and poll workers.

"We expect poll workers will be overwhelmed, just as voters are overwhelmed, and there will be lots of provisional ballots," said Sara Henderson, head of Common Cause in Georgia, where voting-rights groups have been raising numerous concerns about election security and voter access.

The problems come amid a surge of interest, with registrations and early-voting turnout running well ahead of what is typically seen during a midterm election.

The election marks the first nationwide voting since Russia targeted state election systems in the 2016 presidential race. Federal, state and local officials have been working to make the nation's myriad election systems more secure. They have beefed up their cybersecurity protections and improved communications and intelligence-sharing.

Nationally, some 6,500 poll watchers are being deployed by a coalition of civil rights and voting advocacy groups to assist people who encounter problems at the polls. That is more than double the number sent to polling places in 2016, while the number of federal election monitors has declined.